At The End Of The Rainbow
by L15AAA
Summary: A tale of someone who's life changes from a career he dreads waking up to everyday, to one where he can't wait to wake up the next day for. Read and Review :


**A/N: hey fan fic readers, this is just a quick one shot and I hope you enjoy it ( : **

**At the end of the rainbow**

Clown – are happy, energetic, a buffoon or jester who entertains by jokes, antics, and tricks in a circus, play, or other presentation. That's what you would find in the dictionary if you looked up clown, a stereotypical clown. But that doesn't describe me at all. I may act the part, but it doesn't mean I enjoy the part.

I wake up in the morning; look in the mirror to see this stranger I don't even recognise with a white powdered face, donning a colourful wig, bright red lips, and who can forget the big red nose. I go to work, do my job, which is to entertain, make a fool of myself, then go home and wash that whole façade off and that wig too. Then turn to that same mirror in the morning and see a familiar face, brown short hair, brown (with a few gold sparks) eyes staring back at me, a well structured nose, and pale pink lips, satisfied that I look normal _again_.I fall asleep, only to wake up and do the same thing day in, day out.

You're probably thinking if I don't like being a clown, why am I one? Well to tell you the truth, I don't know myself. It all started when I ran away from home, me being the immature self at age 19 ran away to join the circus, that's every teenagers dream isn't it? To join the circus and be free of your self-righteous parents clutches. I only meant to join for a bit, but I realised I got myself in a pretty tight situation.

You see, I wasn't a very intelligent 19 year old either, so to make a long story short, it started with me being drunk, which led me to go join the circus, which lead to be being one for longer than I had anticipated. I'm currently 25 years old so it's been quite some time, since I've been a clown, and sometimes I just wish I was well, a normal boy again. Sometimes I wish I could turn back the hands of time, and redo that whole situation again, starting with not getting myself drunk for starters and not making that stupid mistake of deciding to join the circus, if I was a good boy, I would have studied my butt off to get into Hong Kong University or something and be studying law or something. Maybe I could have been a lawyer, but there's no good sulking over spilt milk.

My best friend in the whole wide world, doesn't even understand me, but I talk to him for hours on end and he doesn't complain, he just sits and listens to me, his a companion for life, his well groomed, cuddly, sure we might not like the same food, for instance he likes bones and all kind of meats. While I prefer more human food if you get my drift, his name is Brian and for now all I need for a friend is him.

I still keep in contact with my parents but not as often, they're too ashamed of my wrong doings, no need to tell you what that wrong doing was, they send me some money now again, send me cards and presents on the right occasion, they hardly ever mention me to their friends anymore, when their friends ask about me, Syaoran Li. They make up excuses like I'm travelling the world or something of the likes. But where I really am is here, in Japan, what am I doing all the way in Japan, when I was from Hong Kong? Well the circus travels as you know, but they like it here in Japan so here I am. The sites are really magnificent in spring when all the cherry blossoms, bloom and fly off there branches and litter the streets with soft, delicate petals. It's like a picture out of a book.

Anyway could be having a mid-life crisis at the moment, but I don't know, don't you need to be like middle age? Or have lived half your life to be having a mid-life crisis? Lets just change it to 25 year old crisis, yeah, that'll do. Even though I said I didn't like being a clown, doesn't mean I want to leave, because I don't mean to sound repetitive but since I've been a clown so long, I haven't been normal and if there was no circus, I don't really know what to do with myself. I haven't had a decent job before, oh yeah, being a clown will sure boast up my resume.

So as I sat in my living room, I stared around, it was a rectangular shape, it had a television in the middle of the room, with a black L shaped couch in front, were I was currently seated, windows along the right side of the living room, I have a telephone hung up on the wall, photos scattered on the wall of family, and that was probably about it, I didn't own much things. I don't think my apartment could fit it if I had more.

I sighed and patted Brian on the head as he lay on my lap, what was I going to do with myself? How was I going to look for a work when I had no qualifications at all, the only thing I seem to be good at is making a fool out of me and making people laugh, not much of qualifications to me. I got up and decided I might as well sleep on it and go job hunting tomorrow.

---

The next morning, I woke up at 8 o'clock on the dot, it was kind of a routine for me, I got up and went in the bathroom and just as I was reaching out to get ready, I pulled back. I wasn't a clown anymore, there was no circus, and I stood there for quite some bit, just staring at my reflection staring back at me. The realisation finally dawned on me, it was a great feeling the feeling of being- free, but at the same time I felt lost and confused what I was going to do now. I just didn't know.

I got dressed in normal clothes, blue faded jeans, a plain white t-shirt, a black vest with some sunnies. For the first time in a long time, I felt actually_ normal _I didn't have to hide behind my disguise people didn't stare at me as I walked the streets, this feeling that filled my stomach made me feel happy and I couldn't help but lift the corners of my mouth, just a tiny bit, what am I talking about. I was grinning like a fool. For the first time in a long time, I felt content. This was my chance to go and start over, but as I kept walking along the busy streets of England, I realised it wasn't going to be that easy, who was going to employ a guy like me? Syaoran Li? The answer was no-one.

As I continued my walk down the road, to where ever my feet would take me, I caught sight of a day care centre that was looking for workers. My world stopped, was this some sort of sign? If it was, thank you god. This was my chance, a time for change, the start of a new me. The new me decided to go home, and prepare myself to walk in there tomorrow, as I walked home, I thought of all the things I needed to do to prepare myself.

Shave, look presentably, come up with some sort of resume and as I passed a grocery store, I realised I needed some food to prepare dinner with. I walked in and grabbed a red basket and decided I would make some Pasta, I walked the isles looking for the ingredients and walked to the counter, I paid for the items and walked out, heading to the awaiting Brian who would probably be hungry and waiting by the door. This must what it feels like to have a normal life, to no longer have to spend long hours at the circus and come home all tired with no energy to prepare or eat any food.

As I opened the door, immediately I was pounced on by Brian, I quickly patted his head and headed to the kitchen, it wasn't really big nor was it small, it had a stove, an oven, a fridge, a countertop, sink, everything that a kitchen needed. As I prepared dinner I practised what I would say.

"Hi, my name's Syaoran Li, I saw the poster outside" was that a good introduction?

"My name is Syaoran Li, I would like to apply for a job" better I guess, and for the rest of the night I practised what I would say to them, for the first time in a long time, I felt nervous for the next day to come.

--

The following morning, I prepared myself, I shaved, and I made sure I looked presentable, in my grey pants, black leather shoes and a plain white shirt.

"How do I look?" I turned to Brian and I received a woof as if saying I looked good. In doggy language, I smiled slightly, patted him on the head and walked out the door. I walked down the same path I did the day before, passing familiar shops, it was around 10 and the streets were crowded with people clothed in business suits, obviously going to work.

Before I knew it, I had arrived at the front of the day care centre, as I peered into the clear window, I spotted a young woman, who took my breath away, she had bright emerald eyes, brown curly shoulder length hair, well structured nose, pale pink lips, porcelain white flawless skin, she wore a flowery summer dress and was surrounded by little kids, she was absolutely stunning in my eyes. I started feeling kind of nervous, my hands felt sweaty and I took a deep breath and opened the door.

As soon as she heard the door bell, she looked up and gave me the most dazzling smile it seemed to brighten up the whole room, was this what they called love at first sight? Because I felt butterflies in my stomach, as corny as that sounded and I got all nervous around her and she hasn't even spoken a word to me yet. As she made her way over to where I was standing I smiled and introduced myself.

"Hi, I'm Syaoran Li and I happen to see the poster outside" I was amazed that I could actually muster up my confidence to say that when my brain was running at 100km an hour.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Sakura Kinomoto, I'm the owner" she said smiling as we shook hands.

"Yes, I'm currently in need of workers, everyone seems to have left me" she said chuckling a bit, the sound of her laugh was like music to my ears, does love make you this corny? If it does, I'm starting to feel a little sick.

"Well if you'll accept me, I can start work start away" I replied.

"Are you good with kids? What are your qualifications?" She asked tilting her head slightly to the side.

"Yes, I'm very good with kids, and umm… to be honest I was a clown" I kind of whispered the last part out, waiting for her to kind of laugh at me or something. I looked up and she just smiled back at me, her smile was contagious, before I knew it I found myself smiling too.

"I'm sure you'll be a big hit with the kids then, must mean you have a great sense of humour, you just got yourself the job" she said. I stood there, kind of stunned, I just got the job, I felt like jumping up and down with joy but contained myself and knew I must be grinning like a fool, she chuckled quietly to herself but I still managed to hear her.

"If it's not too much trouble, could you possibly start work today?" she asked nervously looking up at me, I was at least taller than her by a head or a two.

"No, no trouble at all" and just like that I had a job, parents came in and left their child in our care, we played , performed and fed them, and by the end of the day, I was exhausted. We sat on the little play chairs sipping our teas and sighed. It was now 6pm and all the children left with their parent or parents around 5. The atmosphere wasn't as awkward as I anticipated. It was actually quite comfortable; I stole a few glances her way and soon turned to face the front again.

"Wow, it looks really dark outside" I commented.

"Yeah I guess it is" she replied and we turned and smiled at each other.

"I think its time to head home now" she said and we both got up from the chairs. Sakura went and grabbed her grey cardigan and purse, while I waited at the door.

"Let me walk you home, it's not safe for a pretty young lady to walk home at this hour" I said, she blushed slightly from my comment and nodded.

It was really easy to talk to her, most of the time we just joked around and talked about meaningless things, it was fun, she was bright and bubbly it just made you happy too and all smiles around her. When we reached her door we bid goodbye and I practically skipped my way home. This was the most exciting thing that happened in my life so far and I wasn't going to waste this chance of a new beginning. So for a while the same thing happened, I would walk into work and we would entertain and take care of the children, but except the difference between this job was that I didn't have to drag myself out of bed every morning just to go to work, I actually enjoyed going to work, see her smile made it all worth it.

I had found my pot of gold, at the end of the rainbow.


End file.
